Amanda
happyhugo
Romance, Some Drama
A Short Story---15,201 words
Copyright (c) 01/25/10
Readers score 6.53
Amanda is almost raped, but is saved by her
husband. However he is charged with assault
and has to pay. Then he figures out how to
get even. Some rocky relationships.
Chapter one
I stood on the side of the country club dance floor watching my wife out there making a spectacle of herself. She was enjoying herself in a way I never would--or could for that matter. I guess you could call her a free spirit. My heart aches with that love, but to see her flashing around, it makes my heart hurt. She is six years younger than me. I am old and settled by comparison to her. I have always considered life and living it, a serious business. Fun was something you did when what you set out to do was done. The trouble is work and business for me were never completed.
I was in the restroom stall when I overheard a conversation. No one wants to hear their beloved being talked about in such a manner as I did. Every feature she had was discussed. Her full luscious lips, her full voluptuous breasts, and right down to the bright red thong that was shown when whirling around the floor in an earlier dance. The thing of it is, I don’t think Amanda is aware of her display at all. She is just so alive and full of fun. So what am I going to do? That was a question I don’t seem to have an answer for.
I watched as she and her friend June, headed for the powder room. I don’t know why I caught it, but two of the club members, Tim and Bob Noland, nonchalantly made their way after the two women. That, I thought was odd. They looked furtively around before entering the hall to the restrooms. I slowly made my way through the dancers and was almost there when June came out and looked wildly around. I sped up and went rushing past her. I saw the door to the ladies room closing.
Amanda was either in the ladies room or the men’s room. I chose the one where I saw the door just closing. I was right. The two men had Amanda up against the wall and had already removed her thong. Her gown was up over her head and one man had his pants down around his ankles. I never hesitated. I gripped his hand and using my momentum, swung him around and sent him flailing into the far wall with all the strength I could muster.
The other one, who had been holding Amanda’s dress over her head so she couldn’t see him, turned to face me. He tried to run, but I body blocked him into an open stall where he fell over the stool. He rolled onto the floor and I jumped on him with both feet, right in the middle of his gut. I hauled back to kick him where I had a clear shot at his cojones. “Mike! Stop it or you’ll kill him if you haven’t already.”
I backed out of the stall and caught my breath. One man was lying on the floor moaning and the one in the stall was retching up this evening’s meal. “Are you all right, Honey?” Amanda was standing there crying.
June came in just then followed by a security person. He stood there surveying my victims. “What happened here?”
“These two assholes were raping my wife. I stopped them. You can see that one over there has his pants down and that one in there was holding her dress so she couldn’t see who they were.”
“That right, Ma’am?” Amanda nodded, mutely.
“The police are on the way. I guess I better call the medics. You two don’t leave, but maybe you better go out. Someone will take you into the office.”
It took over two hours before the police were through with us. I had caused some serious injuries in the few moments I was addressing my wife’s attackers. One had a broken shoulder with the other dislocated. He also had a concussion. The one I had stomped on had a ruptured spleen.
The media did us in with their headline, Wife Flirts. Jealous Husband Goes Berzerk. Followed was a listing of the injuries and two pictures of Amanda out on the dance floor with her dress twirling high enough to show her thong. Three days later I had to appear before a judge, charged with assault with unnecessary use of force.
I won the criminal charges that were brought against me and that only because of the police report that was filed at the time of the attack. My size had a lot to do with my winning. I am only five feet, nine inches tall and of slight build. When my lawyer stood me up against the two men, the jurors couldn’t believe that I did anything except protect my wife.
I was, however, charged in civil court. It took all of my assets I hadn’t managed to conserve to fight it and in the end, I lost. The judgment against me was astronomical. I was going to be broke the rest of my life.
Amanda was crushed from the moment I was first indicted in the criminal proceedings. We sat down and talked over what would happen if I had to go to jail. Luckily, I didn’t go to jail, but we still stayed with our plan. We divorced before the trial had ended. At that time I had turned over all of my assets to her. When the civil suit was brought, I didn’t have diddly-squat. I looked to Amanda to hire my lawyer. At the time I wished she had hired a better one for me. The way the trial went, though, I could see everything was stacked against me, so the lawyer I had was adequate.
My wife blamed herself for all of the bad things that landed on me. She couldn’t see where by divorcing we would be ahead. That was until I was served with papers in the civil suit. Then when the judgment went against me, she understood.
You wonder how our relationship was with each other? I think we were stronger. I know my love for her was, and I was sure hers for me was too. Sure we were divorced, but we were closer.
I always felt that criminals were foolish to set out on a life of crime. It would only end with the perpetrator headed for jail. What the hell, I almost made that already and I felt I was as far from being a criminal as the Pope. To tell the truth, I wasn’t out to make a whole lot of money for myself, I just wanted to even things up a bit. My target, of course, were the two that had cornered Amanda in the ladies room and tried to rape her. The ones with such disastrous results for me.
I guess this is a good time to tell you about myself. I’m Mike Murdock, and I was an auditor for a financial group. I was, anyway, until people heard about me having a huge monetary judgment against me. Companies just didn’t want me looking at their books and seeing where their assets were kept. I was now reduced to keeping books for a small computer firm that did sales and installations. They also did repairs.
A germ of an idea came to me when a computer was brought in that had been damaged by dropping it. You guessed it. It was from the firm that was run by the two assholes that had caused me and Amanda such grief. This company I worked for was actually too small to keep a full time bookkeeper occupied, so I often helped in the repair department.
The repair man, Randy, diagnosed the problem and extracted what was on the computer using a recovery program. When the new part was put in, all of the information he had extracted had to be reinstalled. This was time consuming, but anyone could do it with just a few key strokes. The job was given to me. I started this near the end of the day and offered to come back after dinner to complete the installation. The computer was scheduled for delivery before noon the next day.
It was eight-thirty that night when I finished the installation. I decided to look to see what was on the computer just to make sure I had things installed properly. I discovered the dumb-fucks had their passwords listed in a file. The computer was now an open book to me. I first looked at the financial files. Being an auditor, it took me only a few minutes to see that the two of them were crooks and the Treasury Department was not getting paid what was owed.
Rather than look further, I ran an extraction of my own onto a couple of disks and took them home with me. I guess this was my first criminal act.
For six months, I never looked at those disks. In the meantime my wages, such as they were, were being garnished to the tune of fifteen percent---and that was on the gross. Hell, I couldn’t even buy more than two beers if I wanted to. Amanda was supporting me. It was originally my money, of course, but it still didn’t make it right. I was getting into more and more of this computer tech stuff. Randy was a computer geek from way back, and was pleased to show me how to find my way around more than the basics. Even he was surprised on how fast I caught on and was letting me do minor repairs as they came in.
One day a customer brought in a computer and said he couldn’t find his files. Randy showed the customer what had happened. He had been hacked and his files deleted. That brought up a whole new area that I was interested in. In a discussion with Randy later, I asked him if he would show me how it was done. Randy refused, saying it wasn’t ethical working in repairs as I did. He did mention some hackers and told me which one was best. I made the trip.
It took three months for the hacker to teach me all he knew. When I was able to hack into his computer and he couldn’t find where the hack came from, he graduated me. He had his ethics too. He made me promise that I would never hack into any sensitive government entity. I complied.
“Amanda, do you want to get out of this mess we are in?”
“Of course I do, but how? Are you going to rob a bank?”
“No, but something just as good and maybe even better. It might even have some good old ‘get even’ in it.”
“God, if we only could. Tell me more.”
“It is pretty illegal. I wouldn’t consider it, but I want to be married to you again. I don’t think there is much risk. Let me run it by you and see what you think.”
Amanda was all for it. In fact she was enthusiastic and set out Monday morning to get it started. First she put on a disguise and rented a room by the week in a middle-class neighborhood, making sure that it had Internet access. She told the landlady that for a few weeks her husband wanted a quiet place to write up his invoices, for the kids bothered him at home. Her husband was on the road in another state and had taken the checkbook with him. Would cash be acceptable? No problem.
Next she went cross town and bought a used high-powered computer from a pawnshop. This was one that I had specifically asked Amanda to look for. The landlady’s son even carried it into the rented room for her. He also helped her move in a table for the computer which was large enough to provide working space, and one chair. Then a trip to the service provider, and using the same excuse, was able to pay cash there, too. That put me onto the Internet the first time I booted up.
Kissing Amanda, I left home with hopeful and cautionary wishes following me out the door. I spoke genially to the landlady whom I met in the hallway to my room. I had a three-day-old beard, a fake mustache, two-inch elevator shoes and horned-rim glasses. As I went by I commented, “I have four kids that prevent me from concentrating.”
The two disks that I had downloaded nine or ten months ago kept me busy that night until nearly midnight. I figured when I was done looking at them, I knew more about their company than they did themselves. They had more damned hidden files on their machine. The jackpot turned out to be a file I almost missed. It was a porno file with pictures. I had put the machine on scroll and went to the john. When I came back I was seeing text and spreadsheets scrolling by.
Apparently anyone looking at the file would think it was blank beyond the pictures, but the good stuff was after a three minute blank near the end of the file. Accidents do happen and I was lucky, or someone up there was thinking maybe it was my turn for some of that good luck. I closed down for the night. All I had done was look at a couple of disks, but my time was well spent. I knew of course what I saw had changed in the time the disks had set idle. Having kept track of these two assholes because I was turning over part of my paycheck, I couldn’t have imagined they would have changed their system to any great extent.
I wiped everything down, for eventually I was going to do something that could land me in the slammer. I was making a habit of being extra cautious. Amanda was waiting expectantly at home. “You know I feel every time you go out the door I’ll get a call from the police that you are in jail.”
“It could happen, but I’m going to risk it. The more I see of their records, I think the less danger there is. I’m going to be like a crook stealing from other crooks. Who are they going to complain to? If they don’t find out it is me, then we’ll be okay.”
“So what did you see on the disks? Anything interesting, more than finding out they are cooking the books?”
“Yes I did, and I almost missed it. If I hadn’t had to go to the john, the only thing I could have done was turn them into the IRS and ask for the reward. I found a place where they have stored a slush fund and it is all illegal money. They have been skimming money off the top from the company and stashing it out of the country. I think I can get to it. It will take some time, but it is there for the picking.”
“Is it enough to bother with?”
“More than enough. I’m not going to get greedy though. I’m going to take what I have had to pay the bastards, the costs I have had to put up in attorneys’ fees, and the difference between what I would have made and what I make now. Beyond that, I’m going to have them fighting amongst themselves. I still might set the IRS on them. I haven’t decided that yet.”
“You can do all of that?”
“I can and I’m going to.”
“How long is it going to take?”
“The actual doing isn’t going to take long, but the setting up may take a month or more. We are going to have to do some traveling too. Would you treat me to a vacation in the Cayman Islands? I’ll pay you back when this whole thing is over.” I laughed. “I’ll just put it in as a business expense.”
“A vacation Mike? God, we need it after what this past year has done to us. If we get caught, we will have that anyway.”
“Wait until I can hack into Tim and Bob’s computer before we get too excited. I might not find what I think is still there. I will be very surprised if that slush fund has been moved. The way I read the accounts, the two assholes are building toward their own personal retirement fund. The projected completion date is five years from when those disks were generated. I should have at least three years to set this up. If I was greedy I might wait for awhile. I’m not and there is more than enough in there to get my pay-back and cause some trouble.”
I waited two days and then went back to my rented room, finding things just as I had left them. I could see why some crooks were paranoid. I know I was about safety on this project. Tonight I was going to be hacking into Tim and Bob’s computer system and I was pretty damned nervous.
Thank God this company was big enough so that the computer network was turned on twenty-four hours. I was into the network as easily as if I was sitting in front of a computer in one of the offices. I had just a little more trouble finding which password matched the computer I wanted into. I had the passwords, I just didn’t know which one to use. On the seventh try, I was in.
The file hadn’t been changed much, the same password worked on the same file. The porn was different. Whoever had this computer in his office was partial to blondes, if the selection he had compiled indicated anything. The sum in the account had increased by a bit over one hundred thousand dollars in the last year. Either business was very good or they were getting greedy.
The money itself was stashed in a bank in the Cayman Islands. It was beyond the grasp of the US Government. It was in a numbered account. Remember, I was an auditor and when I saw a number, I wondered about it. If something had a number on it, there had to be a reason for it. Those blondes---they were all numbered. The numbers were not sequential---so---why weren’t they? Because the numbers were there for some other reason.
This indicated a code. A code to something that in itself was thought to be hidden. It had to be the account in the Cayman bank. I would bet my life on it. So what else would I need to access the account? Probably something like a password. The only other place I might be able to find it would be on their PCs at home. There again another problem presented itself. The computers had to be turned on. I left this for some other time and did more sniffing around the company network. Fuck it! If I never was able to get anything back but satisfaction, I sure could cause the Nolands some real grief. I was smiling to myself as I downloaded a hidden file that was the true finances of the company. I extracted the other file with the women posted on it so I could study it at my leisure.
Puzzling in my mind how to get into the home computers, I cleaned up the room, wiped everything down and headed for home. Amanda had company when I arrived. A person was sitting in the darkened living room. I could just make out that it was a woman. Amanda didn’t say who it was but steered me to the kitchen. “Mike, we have to talk. This goes back to the night I was almost raped. You know June, my former friend, disappeared after that night and we couldn’t find her. We thought then she might have been able to help your case.
“Well, she could have, but she was too afraid to come forward. It seems that she helped Tim and Bob set me up to be raped. They were blackmailing her because of some indiscretions of her own. She was supposed to lock the door to the ladies room and stand outside and tell people the facility was out of order until they had finished with me. She chickened out and just left. That was why you were able to get in and save me.
“The Nolands were so pissed that they got hurt, they used the information to destroy her life. In the last year her husband and she were divorced and he has custody of their little girl. I hate what she did, but I feel sorry for her at the same time. She is about ready to take her life. I don’t want her to do that. She has come here to ask for my forgiveness. Would you speak to her?”
“Sure. Maybe she can help us with our little project at the same time too.” Amanda and I went into the living room and I turned the lights on. June was sitting on the corner of the couch looking ready to run. I couldn’t believe the change in the woman. Where she had been vivacious and sparkling with life the last time I had seen her, she was looking dull and with that look of hopelessness that comes before one knows she is soon to die.
“Hi June. Amanda tells me your life has turned to crap. Would you tell me about it?”
“What’s the use? It all happened because I cheated on Brian. Only one time, and I tried to stop what happened that afternoon as soon as I got there. I was practically raped and prevented from leaving. It was a place where they had cameras from every angle which I wasn’t aware of until they showed me an edited video. They said if I didn’t do what they wanted me to do, they would send Brian a copy. The next weekend at the dance they told me what to do to trap Amanda in the ladies room. I just couldn’t do it. You know what happened after that.
“Tim and Bob sent the tape to Brian. I gave up and filed for a divorce. I had my lawyer give Brian everything including custody of Linda. She is only four and will soon forget me.”
“What did Brian say about this? Did you ever explain to him what and why this happened?”
“No, I haven’t talked to him since he got the video. My lawyer kept trying to have me get together with him, but what was the use? It would only make the pain worse for both of us.”
“Where have you been staying in the last year?”
“I stayed with my sister out in Colorado, but she said if I didn’t stop crying she was going to kick me out, so I left. That was three months ago. I guess you could say I am homeless now.”
“Well, you aren’t homeless anymore. You can make your home with us until you get back on your feet. How come you are back in town?”
“I wanted to see Linda before I---”
“Before you did what?”
June broke down and started crying her heart out. I motioned for Amanda to take June upstairs and put her to bed. As soon as they were out of hearing, I made a phone call. It was late, but I couldn’t see any reason for putting it off.
“Brian, this is Mike Murdock. You know your wife June used to be friends with my wife Amanda.”
Brian interrupted. “Has Amanda heard from her? Is she okay? I need so much to talk to her.”
“Cool down. June is here with us. Let me ask if you still have any feelings for your wife?”
“Of course I do. If she will only talk to me, we could put this all behind us. Linda still has nightmares about losing her Mom. Can I see her at your house?”
“That is why I am calling. Look, June came into town to say good-bye to Linda and then was going away forever, if you catch my meaning. She came here to Amanda and I for the same reason. She felt responsible for the trouble that we have had this past year. Amanda forgave her and I have done the same. Why don’t you get your daughter up and both come over? Maybe between all of us we can change the direction she is determined to go.”
“We’ll be over in a half hour.”
Before Brian and Linda arrived, Amanda came down and said she had helped June take a hot shower and she was now sleeping in the guest bedroom. I told her what I had done, which earned me a loving kiss and a thank you.
Brian was carrying his sleeping little girl in his arms when he came in. Amanda took Linda and they went upstairs. She came back down and said she had slid Linda in beside her mother. Brian asked, “Do you think she will talk to me?”
“Don’t talk to us. Amanda will show you where June is sleeping. Go up and crawl in bed with her so she will be between the two people she loves when she wakes up. I doubt she will get up and go on with her plans after that.”
Chapter Two
My wife and I watched one happy family come down the stairs and into the kitchen where Amanda was making breakfast. I had never known Brian well and had only met him a couple of times. Now I had a friend for life. Linda clung to her mother and June kept promising the little girl that she wouldn’t ever go away again.
June brought up the subject of how her actions had not only destroyed her marriage, but her friends as well. She was devastated when I told her that we were actually divorced, but still loved each other, so we were still living together. Someday we would be married again and would be starting a family.
“So what are you waiting for? You seem happy enough together?”
“It is like this. I had Amanda divorce me and I put all of my assets in her name. When the civil judgment came down against me, the Nolands weren’t able to touch them. I’m giving them fifteen percent of my wages and I am stuck in a low paying job. If I marry, my wife’s assets would become joint and they could come after them. I’m not going to give them the satisfaction. So they are collecting about fifty dollars a week from me almost forever.” I smiled when I said this.
Brian questioned why I was not more discouraged.
“Who knows, I might hit the lottery or something.” This time I chuckled out loud.
“It sounds like you have something in mind. You wouldn’t have any revenge in mind, would you? If there is any revenge involved, I want to be a part of it if I can.”
I looked at Amanda. She shrugged her shoulders as if to say, “Okay, tell them.”
“How do you feel about committing something illegal if it is just against those two? It might involve their families, but that had to be a calculated risk that they were willing to take in the past. It wouldn’t be any worse than the situations you and I are in right at the present.”
“What does the illegality consist of?”
“Hacking into some computers, transferring some funds out of the country from some bank accounts, hiding those funds and then transferring them back only into my or maybe your name. I have no plans to cheat our government. It should come out ahead, for those funds are hidden from the Treasury Department and they wouldn’t get what is owed anyway. When I get this done, I plan on tipping off the Treasury and let them get their pound of flesh through the courts.”
“Anything at all I can do to help, for God’s sake let me know. Don’t forget, June was ready to kill herself. I’ll remember to the end of my days how close I came to losing her.”
I couldn’t have chosen a better co-conspirator. Brian was a banker. Just the knowledge on how to transfer funds might be what would keep me out of jail. “Okay, you’re in. But I still am going to be the face in front. I don’t want anyone else to take a fall if something goes wrong. If you can accept that, we can get down to where and when.”
Amanda and June were making much of Linda. I never saw a happier child---or mother for that matter. Amanda took them upstairs and eventually June came down wearing one of Amanda’s outfits. Seeing her in some sharp clothes made me pause. She was one of the women that Tim and Bob had shown on the disks. Maybe that was how the password was hidden too. Some way I had to find out what all the names were of the girls pictured.
Linda had been so long without a woman’s touch, I suggested that the two older ones take the child out for the morning. I sat and explained to Brian what I had done and how far I had reached in my goal of extracting the money from the Cayman account. I told him I was searching for something that would act as a password. I was sure of the account number---well, ninety percent sure, anyway. He asked if he could view the pictures. I said he could but I didn’t want to do it on my home computer, or take him to the room I had rented. I was going to use that one to do the heavy work when I was confident I had all my ducks in a row.
Brian came to the rescue. “I have an old machine with Windows 98. Would that do?”
“It should, but can we take the guts out and destroy it before we try to go after the account? It should be safe enough anyway, but I want to be extra cautious.” Brian was with me all the way on this. I took my printer and we skipped over to his house with both the original two disks and the one that I had copied last night. I left a note to Amanda and said we would be back before lunch.
When we entered Brian’s home he made the comment that this was the saddest house ever and had been for the last year. He hoped it would be bright and sunny again after today. June was going to be home. I could see where it needed a woman’s touch. It was clean enough, and there were some toys around for Linda, but no flowers or anything pretty. Brian went to a storage closet and brought out the old tower. He used his home office monitor, keyboard and mouse and I hooked up my printer.
It seemed to take the old machine forever to boot up, but it was able to read the disk okay when I put in the file password. Brian was surprised as I scrolled down the pictures. I printed these out. He of course knew June, and he knew three of the other women. There were nine in all and one was a coworker of his. He was hoping that she hadn’t compromised his bank in any way. He said he would have to watch her closely from now on.
I then put in the last disk with the most recent information and printed these out too. Two of the women were different than they were a year ago. The numbers that I surmised to be the account number was there in the same sequence in both panels. We strung the pictures in one long panel by taping them together. June’s picture appeared in the same place and we hung the two panels on the wall. We studied them for a few minutes, but could not determine much. We had to find out who the other five women were. We were hoping Amanda and June might know the names of the rest of these women. We figured they all would be local so we had some hope of being successful in identifying them.
June knew three of the remaining unknown women and Amanda knew the last two. I had the feeling that this was too simple. We strung the panels up and studied them as we had lunch, and then relaxed. June and Brian kept touching each other. Linda wouldn’t let her mother get more than two feet from her. If June was sitting, Linda was either climbing onto her lap or was kneeling with her head there. June kept telling about the glorious feeling she had when she awoke with her daughter on one side of her and her ex on the other. I got all the credit and passed it off saying, “We all make mistakes and if there is true love you can get over most anything. You do have to talk about it though.”
I was saying this while staring at the panel on the wall. Suddenly I said, “Look at this. In the first panel from the old disk, there is a woman we don’t know, but in the second panel, same sequence, we know her name is Betty. On the last disk we don’t know the name of this one, but the one on the first disk is named Georgia. And here in the first disk, this woman is named Patricia, and in the second, it is Penelope. Let’s assume that the code is the first letter of the first name of all of these women.
“So we have the letters, PGBJSMKCE, in that order. There has to be more to the password. There are usually eleven characters. It has to be in the panel somewhere. It is probably small and would indicate a number.” We all looked, but could see nothing that would indicate a number.
Giving up, Brian and I had a beer and June and Amanda set about preparing dinner. June kept picking at the food as it was cooking. She admitted that she had at times resorted to dumpster diving behind restaurants. One glass of wine made her giddy. All of a sudden tears were streaming down her face and she was sobbing uncontrollably. “A week ago I planned on being dead by this time. I’m so glad I didn’t do it. Oh, I thank you all so much. Brian, if you will only take me back I’ll do anything. Please?”
“Just having you back is enough to keep me happy forever. Amanda, would you mind if we skipped out on you? I want to take my family home. Mike, you are close to finding what you need and I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Would you both come over for coffee in the morning? For tonight, I just want to get June to where I can hold her. Thank you all for what you have done.”
After they left Amanda said, “I didn’t have any idea that June had set me up. I suppose I would have done the same thing to one of my friends if I was in the same position. I don’t blame her and I have always wondered how those bastards thought they could get away with what they planned. I know you have gone through hell in the last year, Mike. We still have each other and it hasn’t been as bad as what June, Brian and Linda have had to deal with. I love you Mike and I want to be part of everything you have planned for the Nolands.”
“This year has been something, hasn’t it? I still have to find the rest of the password. I may have to go into Tim and Bob’s PCs on their home computers. I hate to do that. That is too much an invasion of privacy, because their wives and children would be involved. I don’t mind screwing with the men, but women and kids are, I hope, safe from me.”
“You’re an old softy, you know. I love you anyway. Just think, you may be the only crook with principles.”
Two-thirty in the a.m. the phone rang. “Hello?”
“Hi Mike, it’s me, Brian. Christ, I’m happy! I was thinking, when I was taping those pictures together, there were three that had something that I covered up. I overlapped the sheets of paper to just show the women. Sometime when you have time, pull the sheets apart and see what you find.”
“I’ll call you back.”
I went downstairs and did what he suggested. Amanda was asking, “What, what?” after me.
I pulled the latest panel of pictures apart and saw what I was missing. I know I would have found the numbers eventually, but it might have been weeks and many struggles along wrong paths before I found them. I called Brian back. “Hey Buddy, the full password is pg8bjs1mkc3e. Trust me, I know I am right. Spelled out it would look like Pat, Georgia, asterisk, Betty, June, Shirley. exclamation point, Marge, Kate, Carol, pound sign, and Evelyn. If you don’t hit shift on your keyboard then instead of these symbols, you get numbers. Thanks again Buddy. I’ll see you later.”
Back in bed Amanda asked, “What was that all about?”
“Brian gave me the key to somebody’s bank account. It is almost time for some serious pay-back. Now shut up and see if we can’t work up some serious lovemaking. I’m hyped!”
We reached Brian’s house at ten-thirty. June hugged Amanda when we came in. We could see she seemed happy, but we also could see she had been crying. Brian took me into the kitchen and was shaking his head. “I think June is going to need some help, therapy I mean. She is so happy to be home and that I have forgiven her, but she can’t get past the fact that she was the one that cheated on me and started this whole debacle.
“You don’t seem to hold it against her either for what happened to you. Would you please say something to her? I know Amanda has forgiven her for being set up the way she was. June feels that you are the one hurt the most, so if you could say you forgive her too, I’d be most grateful.”
I went in and sat down beside the child. Amanda and June were sitting across the room on the couch. “Hi Linda. It’s pretty nice having your mom home isn’t it?”
She sat there banging her heels on the chair smiling all over. “Yes, I’m so happy.”
“Would you like to go on vacation with your mom? You might even go somewhere in an airplane. Have you ever been up in the sky before?”
“Can Daddy go too? I don’t want to go anywhere without him.”
“You would all be going together. Amanda and I would be going too. We’d see all kinds of new things and meet a lot of people, some that don’t even talk the way we do. They would be talking and you wouldn’t know what they were saying.”
“Would they know what I was saying if I talked?”
“Some would, but not all of them.” Brian had come in with coffee and heard most of what I said.
Linda looked at her dad. “Can we go up in an airplane, Daddy? I’ve never done that before.”
“We’ll discuss it, Sweety. Maybe we can go on vacation. We will see, okay? Mike, what did you have in mind?”
“I was thinking maybe we would all take a trip to the islands and set up an account of our own. After we get an account set up, I would come back here alone and move the Nolands’ money around the world and have it end up in the same bank as it came from. That done you could help me square things with the IRS and I would have the remainder as my own.”
“The Treasury will be taking a huge chunk of it you know?”
“I know, but it is owed to them anyway, no matter whose account it is in.”
“How are you going to get it back into the States? You don’t have a foreign business. Regulations require that anything over $10,000 be reported as to its source.”
“I know that, but there are a lot of casinos in the Caymans. The reason for the trip is to establish our presence when I report it as gambling winnings. Don’t worry, I know enough about how to set this up so there will be a minimum of investigation. Especially if the IRS has the check in hand.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. I think you are the first honest crook I have ever known. Of course I’m not admitting I know many crooks.” That brought a laugh among the four of us.
Linda was puzzled by all of this. “When are we going up in an airplane, Daddy?”
“Soon, Sweetheart. Is there anything more you have to do Mike?”
“One thing I am going to do is go in through the Nolands’ computer and see if I can access their account. I think I have everything I need, but I won’t know for sure until I actually do the access. I need to do that so I can program in new directions for its dissolution. I’ll do that tomorrow evening I think.”
“Why do you have to go through their computer?”
“Because when I access the account, the bank’s computer will be looking for a legitimate signature to make sure it isn’t a hacker. I have overridden the Nolands’ computer, but there is no chance in hell of doing the same with the bank computer. The bank will assume that either Tim or Bob is just checking up on the account balance if I use them. Mine is just a proxy. This shouldn’t raise any red flags.”
“Well if we go, when would this be? How about in two weeks. I’m sure I can get two weeks off. By that time June and I will have reconnected and Linda will be familiar with her again. Will that be okay with you and Amanda?”
“Let’s make it for a month. I’ll want to run this by my lawyer and make sure I have everything set up. I don’t want to get the money and then lose it all through some damn fool mistake. By the way, what percentage do you and June want? You are part of this too.”
“For me, nothing. I will help in any way I can though. June will have to speak for herself.”
“I don’t want anything either. Just to have you and Amanda forgive me is enough. I’m just so thankful that Brian will take me back so we can put our life back together. You don’t know what a wonderful feeling it is to be able to sleep in my own bed snuggled up to the person I love.”
“Okay then, but it is there if you ever need it. When I drain the Nolands’ account, can you suggest what banks around the world to send this money to before it lands back at the Cayman bank? I think I want four stops and as soon as the money arrives at a bank, I want it sent on to the next immediately. As soon as the money leaves one stop, I want that account deleted. This is the only way that the money can travel and not be traced. Each bank won’t know where the money came from and where it was sent on to. Better yet, Brian, can you set this up for me? Doing it this way would save one trip to the Cayman Islands and back.”
“Of course, I do it all the time.”
Monday night I went over to the furnished room and hacked into the Nolands’ computer. Actually it wasn’t technically hacking, I was logging on from a remote site, that is all. Now came the part where my nerves were strung about as taut as could be without breaking. I clicked on the bank number!
I was there. (entr acct no) 1827364819354 (entr pwrd) pg8bjs1mkc3e. I waited the longest three seconds of my life. I could have shouted for joy. I quickly perused the account and read the directions. These were usually time dated and would take place on a certain day and time. Nothing was there that would make me think that this money was going to be moved anytime soon. I clicked on (exit) and I was back locally at the Noland site. I exited that and sat back in my chair. God I needed a beer. The sweat was just running down my face and off my chin.
I cleaned up and went home. The landlady stopped me as I was going down the stairs. “Not staying long tonight?”
“No, I just got here and I guess I’m not feeling too well. I seem to have the sweats. I hope it’s not the flu. Anyway, I’m headed for home and to bed.” I had her sympathy as I left.
Amanda was anxious when I came back so soon. I grabbed her and twirled her around. “I take it you were successful?”
“Yes, it didn’t take me two minutes from the start until I was looking at the balance.”
“Okay, that’s fine, but forget it for now. There is something else that needs your attention.”
“And that would be?” I was thinking of something of a loving nature heading my way.
“June and I went into the City Hall today. You might remember that she and I are living in sin with a couple of great guys. We are demanding that you and Brian go in with us and get a marriage license. About Friday I would think.”
“What about what I owe the Nolands? That isn’t going to go away, you know. You will be on the hook for it as much as I will.”
“I know, but I know something that you don’t. Jean Noland came to me and apologized for what happened to you. She is really pissed at Bob and came to me when gossip finally got to her about what really happened that night. She really loves the bastard, so about all she can do is put pressure on him to mark ‘paid in full’ on the judgment. Why don’t you get your lawyer to approach his lawyer and see if it can’t be reduced, if not forgiven?
“I want to get married and get our family started. June and Brian are retying their knot before we go to the Caymans. That reminds me, we have tickets already bought and hotel reservations. Did you know they have nude beaches there? I bet you would like to get a look at June’s bod. She is more petite than me, especially after what happened to her. She looks more like a teenager than a woman that has had a kid.”
“Oh, I don’t think that I would turn in my big, old, fat, live-in for a teenager, however petite she is.”
“I’ll agree I’m everything but the ‘old’ because, Mister, you got your live-in knocked up so it won’t be too long before I am big and fat.”
I looked to see if she was serious. She was. Just then Brian, June and Linda arrived. They were looking askance at the two of us, because we were bubbling over with joy. I shared the news about the baby and where our women had been today. We made a date to go to City Hall, as neither Brian or I wanted to wait until Friday.
While Brian was talking to Amanda, I went to the phone in the kitchen and called my minister. He told me that he had time to perform a ceremony directly after services on Sunday of this week. I went in and said I had arranged to be married on Sunday and asked if there was anyone here that wanted to join me.
“When are the flight reservations for?” I asked Amanda.
June spoke, “Next Wednesday at three in the afternoon. If you guys have anything to get done, you better do it before then. We wives are in the air whether you are with us or not.”
I looked at Brian. “I guess you and I had better get busy then. Come on into my office and we will see what we need to do so we don’t disappoint the women.”
Tuesday morning I called my lawyer. I had found out that he might not have been much of a trial lawyer, but he was pretty persuasive when it came to negotiations. I filled him in on what Amanda had told me. He got right on the phone to the Nolands’ attorney. Within an hour they had an offer of a sixty percent reduction to present to me. I ended up settling for twenty-five percent plus what I had paid to them so far. What this amounted to was instead of a $125,000 judgment against me, I paid them a total of $27,000. We agreed to finish this up in front of the court clerk Friday morning.
Brian was fast at work arranging for the round the world trip of my soon to be stolen money. The girls had rushed things by making the arrangements for our vacation early. I think we could handle it okay. Actually I was glad of the pressure of being so busy. It kept my mind off what I was going to do on Tuesday evening. Brian and I hadn’t tried to hide what I was doing from the women. They both were excited about their upcoming nuptials and gave little thought to the possibility that something could go wrong for me.
I had requested that Tim and Bob not be present when I turned over a check to their attorney. The request was honored, and when I left the courthouse with my lawyer, I thanked him profusely and said send me the bill. Saturday night Brian took all of us to what I called the scene of the crime. I had lost my membership at the Country Club, due to the altercation with the Nolands. The Nolands were still members in good standing, which I couldn’t figure. Christ, they had planned on raping Amanda. Oh well, that’s life’s bumpy road.
I had not been dancing since that night and I was enjoying myself. Amanda brought an elegant lady to our table while I was at the bar. She introduced me to Jean Noland, Bob Noland’s wife. I had a pleasant conversation with her and even asked her to dance. Bob wasn’t in attendance tonight, which I was thankful for. Later another lady came over and introduced herself around, saying she was Roxanne, Tim Noland’s wife. She joined us and I had a dance with her too. These ladies were both a little older than our group. It didn’t seem possible that these two women could be married to such assholes as Tim and Bob Noland.
I found out one fact that interested me. Jean’s father was the original owner of the business and Bob had married Jean and eventually taken over the reins. I got the impression that all was not well between her and Bob at present. Her problem. Too bad I couldn’t tell her some of the things I knew about her husband.
Sunday morning Brian, myself, Amanda, June and Linda sat together in church. The minister informed the congregation that there was going to be a wedding ceremony directly following the service. The two couples would be honored to have the congregation be witness to the wedding. Little Linda was so proud to stand up in front between her mother and Amanda. She kept telling everyone that she was going on a honeymoon and fly on an airplane. The church ladies had prepared a lunch to serve after we were married, which made us all happy. Not too many in the congregation knew what both of us couples had gone through in the last year, or why. The minister, of course, knew and as he was pleased to marry us, everyone was happy for us.
Monday, Brian double checked the path the ill gotten gains were supposedly going to take. Everything seemed in place, but you never know. The pressure was building and I couldn’t seem to calm down. Amanda did her best by talking about our coming child. I was somewhat upset with her at first, for she had gone off birth control without telling me. How would we have been able to afford a baby if we hadn’t been able to reduce the judgment against me? Besides we weren’t even man and wife when it was conceived.
“Mike you are so smart you would have thought of something. Aren’t you just a little bit glad I’m pregnant?”
“Yes, of course I am. I just think you should have discussed it with me, that’s all.”
“We are talking about it now and you’re happy. What’s the problem?” Amanda’s logic was one of the things that made me love her so much.
I couldn’t pull this theft off without Brian backing me up, so I had him join me in the rented room Tuesday evening. I donned my disguise and cautioned Brian not to speak if we met the landlady in the hall. The room only had one chair and the table for furniture, so one of us had to sit on the end of the table. At six p.m. I asked Brian if he was ready. He was.
Brian asked me, “How much of the money are you taking?”
We had never discussed this and to tell the truth I hadn’t decided for sure yet, myself. “I figure I’m out about $113,000. It would be a lot more if the Nolands hadn’t settled on the lower amount for the judgment.”
“Mike, listen to me. I don’t know how much money there is in their account. I would advise taking all of it. You can go to jail only once. It doesn’t matter if it is for $5,000 or $5,000,000. You go to jail for the crime, not the amount of the theft. You claim you are going to pay taxes. You will find a good use for the remainder. Don’t hesitate, take it all.”
I would see when the moment came---and it was coming fast. I was into the Nolands’ hidden file and had taken over their computer. It was time to punch in the Cayman account number. I looked at Brian and typed in 1827364819354 and had the prompt for the password. I typed, pg8bjs1mkc3e and I was in.
Brian said, “Jesus Christ Mike, there is over a million dollars in there. I thought you were shitting me. Well, don’t just sit there, send it on. Let’s get it done. I want to get out of here.”
I laughed. This was exactly the same way I felt. I gave the account directions to take place five minutes from now. The first forwarding address was in Caracas, Venezuela. Brian had programmed in stops for Tokyo, Japan and Paris, France. The last stop put the money back in the same Cayman bank, but deposited to a different account with my name on it. He said it should be there at its final destination in about a half hour, tops.
I sat there in that five minutes wondering if I was doing the right thing. Then I remembered the night a year ago when I walked into the ladies room and saw my wife, who was being restrained and about to be raped. I knew at that moment that when the five minutes was up, I would have no regrets. So it was the right thing to do!
I waited six minutes before accessing the account again. It was empty. All of a sudden I was glad the money was gone and I didn’t really care if it disappeared in transit, either. It wouldn’t bother me too much if I never saw it credited to my account. At least I had fucked the Nolands over. That was what I started out to do in the first place. I commented on this to Brian.
Brian and I tried to make small talk while we were waiting for the money to return to the Cayman Islands. We discussed what we were going to do on our honeymoon and decided we would probably hang out together. I asked Brian if June had mentioned going to a nude beach. She had, but said after this last year, she wouldn’t be caught dead on one.
“You didn’t know Amanda too well before all of this. She used to flirt and was very careless about her actions. She never seemed to care if some person saw her tits or even her panties. It was like she was a closet exhibitionist. Since I was almost convicted of assault, she has done an about face. I don’t know how she will act on vacation though. I’d like to think she has learned something.”
“June is just the opposite. She was always sure she was covered, and then she went out and put herself in a position to get screwed, and then blackmailed. I guess we just have to love them and maybe believe they are ours until we learn something different.”
“How much does what she did bother you? Christ, if Amanda did that to me, I’d be tempted to kick her ass out.”
“I would have said the same before, but she didn’t give me the chance. She just got a lawyer and divorced me. I found life wasn’t worth much after she left, knowing now how close I came to losing her permanently. Look at you. You know that Amanda was some of the cause of what happened. You lived with it and I’d say you’ve paid a pretty high price. You told me a few minutes ago the money isn’t that important, and is just part of getting even. I suspect you will find a good use for the money to help someone.”
We had been so engrossed in talking about our lives and our wives, time had slipped away from us. I looked at the clock. It was time to check my account. The money was definitely there. I suppose I should have been elated, but for some reason I wasn’t. I opened up the computer and removed the memory board and the hard drive. I replaced them with new ones and reprogrammed the computer. This was all done before ten. We walked out and headed for home.
Chapter Three
It was Wednesday evening when we checked into our hotel. We had upgraded to suites and had them adjoining. I felt I could really go first class. If I ran out of money, I could go down the street to the bank and make a withdrawal. Linda was tired so we ordered room service. She went to sleep shortly after that and Amanda invited June and Brian to stay and talk about plans for tomorrow. I wanted to at least view the casinos, as I was going to be using them for an excuse if anyone questioned where my money came from. The women wanted to go down to the beach and work on their tans.
We went to bed and I lay there letting the last year’s problems dissipate. Amanda was feeling frisky which was a nice way to start our honeymoon. Later Amanda asked me a question. “Have you ever felt you wanted to make love to a different woman?”
“Whoa, where did that come from?”
“I just wondered that’s all.”
“I don’t believe you. What brought this on anyway? You don’t ask a question like that without a reason.”
“Okay, but you can’t say anything to June or Brian. June feels so very guilty about being unfaithful to Brian. She wants him to experience another lover. He never dated the whole year they were divorced. She didn’t either, for that matter. She asked me if I would be interested in having sex with him.” She stopped talking for a few minutes, and I damned sure didn’t say anything. I was wondering where this was going.
“What did you tell her?”
“You didn’t answer my question. I asked first.”
“I guess I am a man and if I see a female that is reasonably attractive, I am going to check her out. Sometimes I wonder, but that is all. I love the woman I have and I have been faithful for the six years we have been married. Well five actually, and of course, the last year when we weren’t. We are now though. Not only that, you are pregnant and I think it is mine---isn’t it?”
“Of course it is, silly. I’ve been absolutely faithful to you. Especially since we had our trouble.”
“I fought for you and paid a damned high price to keep you that way. Are you thinking you want to go out on the town and pick up somebody? Or did you have in mind for us to swap with June and Brian?”
“It was just a question. Don’t get in an uproar. Go to sleep. I guess you have answered my question.” She turned over while I lay there next to her thinking. Then she said, “At least look at June when we go down to the beach. She is not ugly you know.” Nothing was said in the morning. Brian and I went down to the beach and looked around. We saw a portion of the shoreline was labeled “clothing optional.” Brian asked me if I would consider that section later in the day.
“Brian, I know Amanda wants to and I also assume that June does too. I just don’t think I can stand to have anybody else see my wife naked. That includes you. Why is it such a big deal? You have seen her in her skimpy bikini. I haven’t seen June in one and have no desire to.”
“I think it is just something the women think they should do, now that they are far from home and have the chance. I have to be honest, I would enjoy viewing your wife without anything on, but if you say no, I won’t push it.” He looked at me to see if I would give permission. I didn’t. I knew once it was given, there was no taking it back.
Instead I said, “Let’s tour the village and see the shops.” The subject of our wives and their attire was not mentioned again. When we returned to the hotel, I suggested we go out to a little outside cafe I had seen. I walked ahead with Linda. She was fast becoming a favorite of mine. I hoped if Amanda had a girl, she would be much like the kid that was holding my hand.
Behind us I could hear June and Amanda querying Brian about what we had talked about this morning. It kind of pissed me off. My wife could talk to me if she wanted to know more about how I felt. It was fun sitting outside for lunch. People were passing by us all the time and could see us eating. It was weird as they usually made comment on the choices we had chosen from the menu.
I could tell that Amanda was not happy with me. She wanted to go immediately and be seen on the nude beach, but I was raining on her parade, so-to-speak. I did agree to go down to the beach and sit while Linda splashed in the ocean. We had been there about a half hour when Amanda announced, “I’m going into the other section. I hate to go alone, but I will if no one will go with me.”
She looked defiantly at me and I stared back at her. She picked up her beach bag and towel and started off. I lay back down on my towel and put my arm over my face. I heard someone near me get up and follow after her. Ten minutes later, June spoke. “I think you are making a big mistake, Mike. You are just driving Amanda away from you. Brian has gone with Amanda to make sure she is safe so don’t worry about him. We are on vacation and you should loosen up a little.”
“We are not on vacation, we are on a honeymoon. Brian has the hots for Amanda and I know you are okay with that. I’m not. I went through hell for a year protecting her, and I’m wondering right now if it was all worth it. Do you think you and Linda are safe enough here?”
“Of course, why?”
“I’m going up and find me a gambling joint. Maybe I can forget that my wife is parading around naked with someone I thought was a friend.”
“You could parade around with me, you know. I know I’m not as well rounded as Amanda, but I still have the necessary equipment.”
“I know that, and if I didn’t have Amanda, I would be very interested. I am married, though, or I am until she decides otherwise. I’ll see you all later. Have fun.” I had to get away from here, before I started thinking I shouldn’t have remarried Amanda. I looked at my watch. It was two-thirty.
Twelve hours later, I was feeling bushed. I was able to forget how much I was disappointed in my wife and friends for awhile, anyway. I had racked up winnings of $37,000 at the blackjack table. The casino gave me an escort back to the hotel. I tipped the person who was my protection and went up the elevator to my room. I paused outside my room before entering. Everything came rushing back. It hurts when someone you love goes against your wishes.
The lights were all off except for a bedside light. I entered the bedroom quietly. Tears came to my eyes, and I turned and left, leaving my wife where she was curled up next to Brian. I stopped and left a note. “I hope you are enjoying my honeymoon. I had a good day at the tables, so I am leaving you enough so you can get home.” I underlined the my. I left $7,000 in Cayman currency on top of the note.
In the lobby I purchased a small carry-on bag for my winnings. I was able to book a flight out at five in the morning. I did the currency exchange at the airport and I was in the air before Amanda was awake I hoped. It felt odd traveling without luggage, but that carry-on was heavy enough for me. Oh yes, my heart was pretty heavy too.
I had to leave quite a chunk of my winnings with customs, but that was okay. The phone was ringing when I reached home. I let it ring and went about packing. I had made a mental list of things I wanted to do while I was in flight. The first thing I did was contact the Cayman bank and change my account to one with a different number and access code. Then I donned my disguise and went and gave up the rented room, taking the computer with me. Brian and Amanda knew pieces of my robbery. If they were screwing each other, they might decide to screw me too.
Better to be safe I thought as I made sure no one could find those panels Brian helped decipher, and the disks that I had extracted. I took the computer to a pawn shop and got fifty bucks for it. The table I left in the rented room. I told the landlady that things had smoothed out at home and I had a quiet place to work now.
It is surprising how little I felt necessary to take with me when I packed. I certainly didn’t want to take anything that made me think of Amanda. The memories in my head would be enough without any visual reminders. I chose a nice motel and moved in. I made a call to my place of business and told them I was having family problems and it would be best if I resigned. They were sorry to have me leave and offered a reference whenever I needed one.
That done, I sat down and took stock of my life. I was thirty-three years old. I was a CPA and a good one. I had been coasting for the last year. Not really, for I had acquired some skills, worthless really if I wanted to go back to being honest again. I was married and that was a responsibility that would take some time to resolve. Eventually I would sit down with Amanda and talk this out. The trouble is she has taken the very trust away that every man needs in his wife. Maybe we could make a life together without it, but it would be difficult. Stupid bitch!
Does anyone ever believe in coincidences? I never did, but I was beginning to. I was thinking about Bob and Tim Noland, well, not them really but what Bob’s wife had said about their business being her father’s. I sat down in the motel dining room, and Jean and Roxanne came in and sat at the table next to me. They recognized me and spoke. “Hi, you are Mike Murdock aren’t you? I heard you had just remarried. I would have thought you would have been on your honeymoon.”
I knew she was just making conversation, so I said, “I had some things to take care of so our honeymoon was interrupted. Are you ladies staying here or just for dinner?”
“Just dinner. Roxy and I are kind of batching it. Our husbands have been bad boys and we caught them at it. I don’t know what it was, but something has them all shook up and they are impossible to live with. The trouble is we don’t know how bad they have been yet. I’m hoping it doesn’t involve the factory. We are looking for a concern to have the books checked. I still am the major stockholder, and I wouldn’t want to lose the company my father built.”
“If you have concerns, the sooner you have things looked into the better off you will be. You should make it a surprise internal audit so they won’t be able to hide anything. Also there are so many rules and regulations now, if you can have it done before the government gets a whiff of something wrong, well you know how unforgiving they are.”
“Is there anything more you can tell us about what we should do? Who should we engage to do this for us?”
“The firm where I worked would be just the ones to do it for you. I’m not employed there anymore. They are very thorough and most professional. When they finish, you will know just where your company stands.”
“How come you don’t work for them anymore?”
“I got into some trouble and had a civil suit go against me. At the time, I didn’t have enough to satisfy the judgment. The firm didn’t think it would look too good to have someone like me look at a client’s accounts. I understood that so I resigned.”
“You are talking about the trouble you had with Tim and Bob, aren’t you?”
“Don’t worry about it. Life creeps up and bites you once in awhile. It hurt, but bites heal. Mine is just a scar now.”
“I like the way you think. Say, would your wife mind if you went out for a drink with us? I wouldn’t want to cause you any trouble. The Nolands have caused you enough of that.”
We had more than one drink before the night was over. In fact they were too drunk to go home, and as we ended up in the lounge downstairs, I tucked them into my bed and I curled up on the love seat. It was a good thing I am a small man. Those seats are okay to sit on, but hell to sleep on. Over the course of the night my tongue had been loosened, and they had heard the sad story of the situation between me and my wife.
I heard someone using the toilet and then Roxy came staggering out and looked at me. “Christ, how did we get here? Where are we anyway? It looks like a motel room.”
“It is and it’s mine. You and Jean spent the night with your husbands’ worst enemy. It might be a good idea if you didn’t tell them.”
“Who undressed me and put me to bed?”
“I did and I had quite a time of it. You kept trying to kiss me. I even hung your clothes up. They wouldn’t have looked too good this morning if you had slept in them. You might go and put them on. You have a beautiful body and if you keep standing there like that, I’m going to have to leave.”
She stood there a few more seconds and turned to go and cover up. “You are some kind of guy. If what you told us about your wife is true, she is one stupid bitch. If she turns you down and you don’t make it, would you give me first shot at you?”
I ordered a carafe of tomato juice, some hot sauce to dose it with, and a carafe of coffee. I didn’t think any of us would be too hungry. The two women were looking a little rumpled and definitely hung over. By the time the coffee was all gone we were laughing at what happened last night. “You took two women out on the town, got them drunk, took them back to your room, undressed them and put them into your bed. You’re not gay are you?”
“No I’m not. I had to use all of my will power not to sample some of what was before me. You two both are beautiful and your bodies are to die for. Let’s change the subject.”
“Okay. Would you call your former firm and see if they can do what you think should be done for us?”
I was on the phone for over an hour. Before I hung up Jean talked with my former boss and she engaged him to audit the company. She wanted me to direct the audit after he had been pressured a little into rehiring me. I declined working directly on her audit, but said I would work behind the scenes if she wanted. There was too much animosity between Tim, Bob and me to be effective in doing the audit.
I was kissed royally when they left. I almost regretted my decision to abstain from enjoying these two lovely ladies. If things didn’t work out between Amanda and me, I had a good fallback position with them.
I went over and got reacquainted with my old friends and those I had worked with formerly. When I had my boss alone, I explained I had some inside information on the company. I said I was in an awkward position for this information was obtained illegally. It could only be used as a guide. He agreed and I promised to make it available as we reviewed the progress of the audit.
Monday morning the auditing team descended on the company. Jean was there with a court restraining order preventing Tim and Bob from being on the premises while the audit was conducted. They were finally aware that Jean was serious about finding out what the condition of the company was. Bob had always told her that things were fine and not to worry. Now he had something to worry about.
It took ten days to complete the audit. I did not go near my former home to see if Amanda had returned from our honeymoon. Then I had to. I was sitting at the counter in a little diner when I felt someone tug on my sleeve. “Hi Mr. Mike. I missed you. I wanted to go in the big lake some more, but you left so we had to come home. Why did you leave? I cried.”
Little Linda was looking up at me with tears in her eyes. I looked around and saw June standing back watching us. I picked Linda up and hugged her. “Hi, June. I didn’t expect to see you here. How are you?”
“Sick. We are all sick with worry over you. What happened anyway? You went off and left us.”
“This isn’t the place to talk about it. I’ll be home tonight. I won’t be in too good a mood though. Christ, we had only been married a week and Amanda had to pull a stunt like that. What would you expect? Brian is just lucky I gave up being so physical. I felt like killing him. I’m leaving now and I will come by the house about seven. I assume you will tell my wife I’ll be there?”
Linda was about ready to cry. “Linda, don’t look so sad. I’m going to see you tonight. Would you like me to bring you something?”
She looked so serious when she said, “I lost my dolly. I think I left her on the plane. Could I have another one?”
“Of course. Would you like me to surprise you or do you want to go to Walmart* and pick one out?”
“I want to pick one out.”
“Well let’s go do it now. No little girl should be without a dolly. Do you have time, June?”
“Yes.”
I wouldn’t talk about what happened in the Cayman Islands. Linda ended up with a big doll to play with and one to take to bed and cuddle with. June did make a comment as we parted. “You did the same thing I did when I left Brian. You didn’t wait for an explanation and there has to be a reasonable one. I’ll be there with Amanda tonight when you find out what happened.” I hugged Linda and received a hug back.
I puzzled over what June had said. My eyes didn’t lie, I knew that. They must have cooked up some kind of story and expected me to believe it. I didn’t tell anyone and I would never admit it, but I had nights with the tears running down my face and soaking my pillow.
I arrived and Linda jumped into my arms. For some reason the little girl had taken a liking to me. I had at least one friend in this nasty old world. Brian and June sat on the couch and Amanda was sitting in an easy chair. I took the other one and sat with Linda in my lap. Amanda started the conversation. “Mike, I didn’t do anything wrong. Tell me what you think I did?”
“I don’t think, I know. I saw it with my own eyes. If I see my wife in bed naked and cuddled up to someone I thought was my good friend, what am I supposed to think? Not only that, there were several tissues all over the floor. If I had seen this a year ago I would have tried to kill him. I’ve had a rough year and I guess I’ve decided that violence isn’t worth it. My wife cheated on me. So what? That happens to a lot of men that love their wives.
“I’m ready to move on. I came awful close to jail, so that’s why I walked out. I’m just surprised that you worked so hard to set it up and when you saw I wouldn’t go for it, you went ahead and did it anyway. I might have gone on for years and you could have been doing him behind my back. I’m just glad I found out when I did, so I can move on. I still believe the baby you are carrying is mine and I will support it. I don’t want you to get an abortion and I will fight that in court if I have to.”
I spoke with passion. Linda was the one who comforted me. “Don’t be mad, Mr. Mike. I love you.”
Amanda stared at me dumbfounded. June and Brian mirrored how she looked. “You’ve got it so wrong, Mike. I stuck with you for a whole year. Why would I change when we were married again?”
“I don’t know. You can’t deny what I saw though.”
“I can give you a reasonable explanation. First you have to know why I was in a state when I was in bed. I went for a walk down in the nude section. I thought you would come with me. I found you couldn’t be bothered. Then Brian joined me. We walked a mile or more down the beach and then came back. I never took my clothes off and neither did Brian. We went looking for you when June said she couldn’t keep you with her. We searched for hours.
“Finally we went back to the hotel and I was exhausted. I had a couple of drinks and had a crying jag. June put me to bed about midnight and stayed with me until Linda wanted her mother. Brian came in fully clothed, I swear, and put the coverlet over him. I don’t deny I was naked, but I swear again that there were clothes and a coverlet between us. As far as the tissues, those were ones that were soaked with my tears.”
What she said was plausible. “What about what you said in bed the night before and Brian’s comment about you being hot and he wouldn’t mind seeing you naked?”
“I don’t know about Brian, but I was just trying to build a little fantasy in your mind. I think June was trying to too. I guess all we did was make you jealous and we didn’t intend that at all. I’m sorry for that. Why do you have to be so damned serious all the time?”
“I may be jealous and serious, but sometimes don’t you think I have cause? Nobody wants their wife out on the dance floor showing her thong when dancing and most men wouldn’t want their wife parading their bod on a nude beach. They definitely don’t want to see their wife naked with their best friend in the same bed. Especially if they hold her in high regard and love her as much as I love you.”
“You still love me then?”
“Yes, and after the fact I’ll tell you I was coming to find you this weekend and see if we couldn’t find some way to live together. That is even if I couldn’t trust you. I love you that much.”
“Mike, you have to trust me, please. I want to forget all this and put it behind us. I want a real honeymoon sometime soon. This one was certainly a disaster.”
“Okay, I guess. You are going to have to give me some time to get this straight in my mind. I’m going to be leaving now and I will be back this weekend and maybe we can settle into being a married couple again. I don’t think you understand yet how much I have been hurt.”
“Mike, can’t you please stay now? We can work it out, but I need you here to do it.”
“No, give me the couple of days I need. I will give you my room number so you can call. That way we can talk it over before we see each other.” Amanda was clearly disappointed. I kissed Amanda and hugged and kissed Linda.
Brian walked me to the door. “You have to believe Amanda. It happened just the way she said it did. I’m sorry you thought I would hit on your wife. You should know me better than that.”
“I thought I did. That is what hurts so much. I honestly will try to forget what I saw.”
“Good. By the way, have you done anything about the money?”
I looked at Brian soberly and asked, “What money?”
I watched him as he mulled this over in his mind. He could understand that he wasn’t in my confidences anymore. “Brian, you said you didn’t want any of it. If for some reason you want or need a portion of it, feel free to ask. Until then I think it a good idea for me to say nothing about it.”
I stopped off at the lounge before going up to my motel room. I needed to sort this all out. Three drinks later wasn’t helping my jumbled mind. I went up and entered my room.
Jean and Roxy were sitting there with concern on their faces. Jean spoke first. “I think we have made a bad situation worse for you. Amanda called and I answered the phone. She was crushed when a woman answered your phone. She hung up before I could do any explaining.”
“We have really screwed things up for you, haven’t we?” We had become fast friends in the last couple of weeks and Roxy was really concerned for me.
“Come on, come with me. This is too serious to let go for even tonight. I have just had a reasonable explanation about what happened. I don’t want to lose Amanda.”
Amanda was just coming out the door to get into her car. She had a suitcase with her. I took it out of her hand and pushed her back towards the house. “Amanda, you come back in and listen to my explanation this time. I believed you when you explained. It is my turn to make an explanation why these two friends of mine were in my room.”
Amanda was crying but did as I asked. “Amanda I think you know now what kind of a mess I was when I came back from our aborted honeymoon. I came home, packed my bag and checked into a motel. I went down and was having dinner. These two came in and were seated at the table next to me. They recognized me and I joined them and we finished dinner together. Afterwards we went out for drinks and ended up telling each other about our spouses and how we had all been wronged by them.
“We finished the night back at the same motel lounge and Jean and Roxy were too inebriated to drive home. I helped them up to my room and put them to bed. I slept the best I could on the love seat in the sitting room.” I paused on what to say next. “I’m going to make coffee and while I’m doing that, Jean and Roxy can tell you what really happened.”
Amanda looked at me with different eyes when I served the coffee. The anger and hurt were gone. “Yeah, only their hairdressers and I know for sure now.” That was the right thing to say I guess, for we all cracked up. Jean and Roxy took my car back to the motel and I went to bed with my wife.
That night was one of the best I ever had and the most satisfying of my life---bar none. I don’t mean just the sex, either, although there was that. We talked and planned our future. Amanda had come to our marriage with some money so she had never had to work. We saw, or she did, that she was somewhat of a drone with too much time on her hands. She decided to return to school to further her education and she might even choose a career for herself. We talked about ourselves and explored our hang-ups and those specific things that troubled us. We decided it was fun to have close friends like June and Brian, but a honeymoon was no place to have them with us.
As days went by we grew closer, and the day that Amanda went for amniocentesis to find out the gender of our baby was a day to highlight. We were having a boy. The morning sickness was no fun for Amanda and she had a severe case of it. I was sympathetic, but laughed at her discomfort. I was paid back when I developed the same condition and was told by the physician that this was quite common for a husband to experience morning sickness along with his wife.
Jean, who had left the running of the factory in her husband’s hands, decided to take a more active role in its management. This came about when it was found how bad the factory’s situation was after the audit she had ordered.
Somehow the file with the pictures of the women was found on the company computer in her husband’s office. Bob and Tim could never explain satisfactorily to their wives why that particular file was on their computer. Two of the women pictured who the wives knew, confessed when questioned by Roxanne, and Tim soon found himself divorced. Jean didn’t go that far, but Bob’s activities were severely curtailed. June, with her picture in the file, would not admit to anything and as she was a friend of ours was not questioned too closely by Roxanne.
June, Brian and Linda still go on vacation together with Amanda and I. We always choose the Cayman Islands and for some reason I am very, very lucky at the blackjack tables---or so I say. Over time, I suppose my Cayman bank account will be depleted, but it will take years. Linda still calls me Mr. Mike and is now our godchild. She has a trust fund that will give her a paid college education to any institution of her choice. This is my way of thanking Brian for his help in securing payback from Bob and Tim Noland.
Roxanne and Jean are still friends with us, but of course Bob isn’t. He feels his luck turned bad for some reason, but can’t seem to pin it down. I know Tim and Bob have never found out who was able to hack into their computer system and steal the account number and password to their slush fund. If it involved just them knowing, I wouldn’t mind and I would love to say I was just getting even. But who knows, they might attack me and it would start the whole thing over again. Best be forgotten!
The End
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